Salsa

Bend Bar 2 17deg Handlebar

I added these to my '11 Trek X-cal (n?e Gary Fisher X-caliber, which is a 29er XC bike) to improve wrist comfort and downhill control. The bike came stock with a 620mm bar, so the extra width is very welcome. The extra grip space is nice to give more options to position my brakes and shifters. I think the Salsa's double-bend is to add sweep while replicating the reach of a straight bar. My stock bars had 12* of sweep already, so the double-bend of the Salsa put me too far forward. I had to get a shorter stem (65mm vs. original 90mm) to compensate. Now that it's dialed, I don't even notice the bar, which is great. It's nice and wide for more control, without being too wide for trees or cruising on the road.